Difference Makers Podcast

Episode

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  Kingsley Aikins - Why your next opportunity is hiding in your weakest connection 01.10.2026 19mnt

  Networking is neither an art nor a science. It is a process, and Kingsley Aikins has spent a career proving it. In the second part of his conversation with Sinead Donovan, the founder of Diaspora Matters explains why 305 million people now live outside the country they were born in, how 120 countries have built strategies to engage them, and what the philanthropist Chuck Feeney meant when he said there is no roof rack on the hearse. Kingsley also names the hidden cost of COVID for the profe...
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  Difference Makers Discuss - Best of Season 4 25.09.2026 39mnt

  Season 4 of Difference Makers Discuss took us from Sydney to London, from Olympic tracks to the maize fields of Mozambique, from online exam halls in South Africa to audit rooms in Zambia. In this special episode, host Sinead Donovan brings the best of those six conversations together in one place. You will hear Kingsley Aikins on how a 12 person dinner club in Sydney became the largest Irish business network in any city in the world, and how one letter to a stranger led to a 21 year working ...
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  Remote working across borders: The hidden risks businesses need to understand 02.07.2026 47mnt

  Someone asks to “work from another country for a few weeks” and it feels like an easy yes. Then the questions start: does a visitor visa change tax status, when do workdays become taxable, and could a single remote worker accidentally create a permanent establishment abroad? We sit down with Carla Wilson, the Chairperson of the Chartered Accountants Worldwide UAE Committee, international tax specialist Hugo Van Zyl and HR leader Sarah Brooks to get brutally practical about cross-border remote...
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  Kingsley Aikins - Good work doesn't speak for itself... But you can! 28.05.2026 30mnt

  Your career is not a solo sport, and pretending it is can quietly stall your progress. We’re joined by Kingsley Aikins, widely known for his work on professional networking and relationship building, to talk about what networking really looks like when it’s done with decency, curiosity, and intent. Kingsley shares the stories that shaped his outlook, from rugby and the “five people you spend time with” idea, to landing in Sydney knowing nobody and helping create the Lansdowne Club, now one o...
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  Aster Thackery - What If your REAL skill is connecting people? 14.05.2026 32mnt

  A Chartered Accountant from New Zealand ends up advising global investors on Italy’s value proposition, and somehow that’s only the start. We sit down with Aster Thackery to trace the real career mechanics behind a “non-linear” path: why her Chartered Accountancy qualification travelled further than a law degree, how London changed her access to international business, and what foreign direct investment (FDI) looks like when you’re the person translating finance, tax incentives, and opportuni...
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  Liswaniso Namatama, Auditing Is a Human Business 30.04.2026 14mnt

  A global summit can feel like a once-off highlight, but for Liswaniso Namatama it becomes a turning point. I’m joined by the Lusaka-based chartered accountant and auditor to talk about what changes when you walk into a room of 2,000 young leaders and realise every person has a story of impact. The biggest lesson he brings home is disarmingly simple: you don’t need to wait for the “right time” to start making a difference. We dig into how those One Young World connections turn into a lasting ...
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  Manuel Rodrigues, Merging Commercial Success with Social Impact 16.04.2026 23mnt

  A rural village where income arrives once a year is hard to transform, unless you change the rhythm of cash, supply, and trust. That is what Manuel Rodrigues has been building through EDP Mozambique: a practical, for profit system that links tens of thousands of small scale farmers growing maize and soya to real buyers, then reinvests that supply into poultry so families can earn again and again rather than waiting for harvest season. We talk through how the model works on the ground: crop a...
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  Caitríona Jennings, From PwC to World Records 02.04.2026 27mnt

  A 100-mile world record time sounds like something from another planet, until you hear how Caitríona Jennings actually built it: not with superhero secrets, but with structured habits, a trained mindset, and the same calm problem-solving you’d expect from a top Chartered Accountant. Caitríona is an Irish Olympian who moved from triathlon into marathon running, qualified for the 2012 Olympics while working full-time in PwC, and later pushed into ultrarunning to set a stunning 100-mile record o...
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  Nick Riemer, Embracing AI and Tech in Financial Careers 19.03.2026 31mnt

  Online exams are meant to make learning easier, but most proctoring tools still assume perfect Wi‑Fi, constant power, and a pricey laptop. That leaves too many students behind. We sit down with Nick Riemer, a South African chartered accountant and co-founder of Invigilator App, to unpack how an offline-capable, low-data approach to remote invigilation can protect academic integrity while widening access to education. We talk about the real costs of traditional assessment: venues, staff...
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  Young Difference Makers: Laura Mason on aligning purpose and performance to ensure that profit fuels justice 18.03.2026 12mnt

  Start with what you’re good at and point it at a real problem—that’s the thread running through our conversation with Laura Mason, a chartered accountant who turns financial modelling and data analytics into public value. From multi‑billion‑pound transport contracts to net zero initiatives and social innovation tools, Laura shows how rigorous finance can deliver human outcomes people feel every day. We dig into the mechanics of value for money and why procurement design matters as much as po...
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  Young Difference Makers: Excel is eating audit, and Christiaan Coetzee brought the fork! 10.03.2026 10mnt

  Ready to discover how a chartered accountant turns risk literacy into a founder’s edge? We sit down with Christiaan Coetzee—CEO and co‑founder of Audit Toolbar and SAICA Top 35 Under 35 overall winner—to unpack the mindset shifts and practical levers that help small firms run with the giants. Christiaan shares how starting articles straight out of high school gave him a front-row seat to hundreds of businesses, and why governance, financial fluency, and rapid risk assessment can be superpower...
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  Young Difference Makers: Jas Rayat on how choosing an apprenticeship over university changed her career 04.03.2026 9mnt

  For Jas Rayat curiosity lit the first spark: how do businesses actually work, and why does finance feel like the spine that keeps them upright? From that question grew a bold choice—skip the university track, embrace an apprenticeship, and earn a chartered accountancy qualification while gaining real experience. We walk through the turning points of that decision, the early wins of earning while learning, and the confidence that comes from solving real problems long before graduation day woul...
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  Young Difference Makers: Sitali Chiuyu on Building Integrity, Accountability, Education, and Responsible Tech 25.02.2026 8mnt

  Start with a simple truth: problems rarely arrive alone. Sitali joins us to show how education, governance, and technology interlock—and how a single career pivot can spark a mission to rebuild trust from the inside out. The journey moves from engineering labs to audit rooms, where ethics meet evidence and small, consistent actions start to change how public institutions serve people. We dig into the daily mechanics of accountability: mapping how funds flow, pressure-testing internal control...
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  Young Difference Makers: How Khethiwe Sibanyoni uses Ethics and Systems Thinking to tackle Gender-Based Violence 18.02.2026 13mnt

  What if the rigour that keeps companies honest could also save lives? We sit down with social impact activist and aspiring chartered accountant Khethiwe Sibanyoni to unpack how ethics, systems thinking, and real accountability can turn good intentions into measurable change. From Saturday mornings in GBV shelters at age 11 to auditing across oil and gas, pharma, and FMCG, Khethiwe shows how credibility becomes a tool for communities when it is used with care. We map the architecture of Kheth...
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  Young Difference Makers: Rebecca Casey talks Numbers, Nerves, and a One-Planet Pledge Walk into a Conference 11.02.2026 10mnt

  If you’ve ever been told to “wait your turn,” this conversation politely declines. We sit down with chartered accountant and risk professional Rebecca Casey to unpack how young leaders move from potential to presence—using expertise, community, and conviction to shape business and society right now. Rebecca charts a clear route from a school enterprise in Sydney to Deloitte, Young CA panels in New South Wales and the UK, and a career leap to London. Along the way she shows why qualifications...
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  Young Difference Makers: Saad Bin Asim Zubairi and his journey of Learning, Empathy, and AI 04.02.2026 10mnt

  What if a ten-year-old’s love for maths could spark a career that blends finance, empathy and AI for social good? We sit down with Saad Bin Asim Zubairi of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan to unpack how curiosity, grit and global perspective can reshape what a chartered accountant does today. From finding the profession at an education expo to thriving in multinational teams through geopolitical turmoil, Saad shares concrete ways leaders can protect psychological safety whil...
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  Young Difference Makers: Sophie Sweeney On Education, Courage, And A Human-Centred Accounting Career 28.01.2026 14mnt

  A teenage mum, a bus to Galway, and a toddler in the back row of a lecture hall—this is where Sophie Sweeney’s story begins. That early proximity to learning didn’t just open a door; it rewired what a career could be. We sit down with Sophie, a lecturer at the University of Galway and a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland, to explore how a love for numbers became a mission to serve people through education, mentorship, and purpose-driven accounting. Sophie shares how structure became her...
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  Resilience, Flow, And The Future Of Accounting 21.11.2025 34mnt

  Ever feel like your day is a blur of pings, context switches, and late-night messages that steal your sleep? We sat down with Brad Hook and Declan Scott to unpack why the profession’s greatest strengths—kindness, curiosity, creativity—can be undermined by hypervigilance and constant multitasking, and how simple, science-backed rhythms can restore focus and energy. We dig into the data from the inaugural global resilience and well-being report for Chartered Accountants and preview what the ne...
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  Carla S. Vijian - From Malaysia to Manhattan – A Journey in Ethics, Audit, and Marathon Running 14.11.2025 27mnt

  Curiosity isn’t a personality trait—it’s a practice that can shape a career and safeguard public trust. That idea runs through our conversation with Carla S. Vijian, whose path from Malaysia to New Zealand, Sydney, London and now New York traces a throughline from hands‑on audit work to ethics standard setting. We dive into how fieldwork hardens your scepticism—the kind that looks past headlines and asks who funds what, where assumptions hide, and how incentives bend outcomes—and why that hab...
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  Nicola Ellam on why AI won’t take your job—it will take it to a whole new level 07.11.2025 22mnt

  The myth that accountancy is just numbers falls apart fast when you hear Nicola Ellam’s story. Trained in the UK, seasoned in Hong Kong, and now a managing principal in New York, Nicola joins us to unpack how a global career can thrive at the intersection of regulation, culture, and bold technology bets. From the maze of US CPA licensing to the daily realities of leading teams in a fast-moving market, she lays out what changes, what doesn’t, and how to stay relevant when the tools of the trad...